I am trying to understand the Meraki﻿ GPS features. On IOS8 what is required to track devices using Meraki﻿﻿ by GPS or Location Services? Is there an additional app that is required for install? Does this system inform users they are being tracked? Must the app be running at all times for such tracking? From an end user, what would they see on their devices when GPS or Location Services tracking are active?

Interesting, but Find my iPhone isn't really something that works on an Enterprise level.

My main question is what does a user see when Meraki﻿﻿ GPS is tracking? Is the app required or just the "Device Management" profile under setting on the iPhone? I assume a user could just kill the app?

Yes, that's right. The User can kill the app as they got the full control of the Device, unless you use some sort of locking so the user can only use the device but cannot control it. I am not sure if MDM softwares will do that or not.

I believe there's single app use setting though it wouldn't work for my environment.

The users would see the Meraki running if it were tracking?

The concern among some here is that users aren't going to be happy if they are tracked without knowing it. I would like to understand what a user would see if Location Services or GPS was enabled on Meraki. Of course we would tell them but trying to cover all bases to make it clear they would know the app is on and tracking. Maybe it would show up on Location Services tab as well?

I believe there's single app use setting though it wouldn't work for my environment.

The users would see the Meraki running if it were tracking?

The concern among some here is that users aren't going to be happy if they are tracked without knowing it. I would like to understand what a user would see if Location Services or GPS was enabled on Meraki. Of course we would tell them but trying to cover all bases to make it clear they would know the app is on and tracking. Maybe it would show up on Location Services tab as well?

Thank you again everyone. ﻿﻿

Yes, theres an app to install and then you enroll it to a profile that you have set up. But any user can delete the app and the profile settings. The other thing is even if they don't it still doesnt work anyway as most of the time you need the user to open the app and select refresh to update where the phone is and what user is going to do that? No-one. Meraki advertise MDM but its not an MDM - its a complete waste of time.

The GPS abilities, or lack thereof, are not the fault of Meraki systems. I've used 2 other MDMs and they have the exact same problem with IOS. They all report the IOS devices as nowhere near the actual location. Apple regulates the GPS capabilities and makes Find My Phone the only trustworthy locator. We have a group locked into Find My Friends for this reason.

To answer your question, when Meraki is being used there is a small arrow in the top right of the device. I believe the arrow shows up whenever location services is turned on, for anything. It stays as an always on arrow at the top of the screen, no flashing or prompts. The user sees nothing unusual.

Yes, GPS on any app in Apple is pointless. It has to be active (not sleeping) in order to actually send GPS data.

The location services arrow turns on as soon as the service is turned on. Regardless if anything is being sent or not. As most people like to have the GPS available for mapping, they should be used to seeing it on. I would not expect anyone to think its unusual for the indicator to be showing. Unless they are wearing tinfoil hats.

I'm not sure why you think the entire thing is pointless. There are a ton of things you can do with an MDM like Meraki and apple devices. GPS just isnt one of them.

If you are dealing with untrustworthy types, get a macintosh and load up Apple Configurator. Then you can set the device to supervised. You can change a lot more permissions and restrictions and even lock the device down to a single app. You can see the differences on the Meraki MDM settings profile page.

Find My Friends will be your best option to keep GPS track of all the IOS equipment. You can lock that app in and prevent them from removing it. I am still testing this myself as far as what the user's see.

FYI - removing the MDM app does NOT remove it from being controlled. If you know where to look you can remove the MDM completely (Meraki will send you an email when this happens). But its not something that is found by most users.

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